Greed is good!

�Greed is Good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed will, you mark my words� save the malfunctioning corporation called the USA.�

Well , we have just seen what Greed has done to the malfunctioning corporation called USA. It�s nearly killed it.

From the robber barons to the sub-prime crisis, American Capitalism has lived through many cycles of greed. Amusement over greed often preceded revulsion with it. Business leaders first get glamorized and idolized. Then move on to getting demonized. Regulation moves on to deregulation and comes all the way back.

Where does this greed come from? Does it come from the share holders, who want more return on their capital? Does it come from the management, who want to get more bonuses? Or does it come from the employees, who want the fastest growth and be in the position of the former two, asap?

I think it starts way before that. It comes from the parents.

It comes, when the mom is dissatisfied with the amount of food her child eats, and wants him to eat more. It comes when the dad is unhappy because his kid started walking or talking too late. It comes when the parents are unhappy with the marks scored by their child in school. And it comes when the child does not get the things that we have dreamt of and considered worthy of for our child.

As a child I used to hear �santosh sabse bada dhan hai�. But never saw it practiced anywhere around me. Contentment was for the losers, not for the winners.

But that�s the disease our society is ailing from. Yes, it is important to desire, as dreams and the desire to achieve them is what keeps us alive. But there has to be an acceptable level of growth. Running too fast makes you fall, but there is always an option to run at speed that is sustainable for longer periods of time. Winning isn�t half as much fun as running together all the way and enjoying the company.

Our corporate world probably should set growth targets which are sustainable and acceptable. Slower than that and you may get bored. Faster, and you may fall.